Texas Rangers: David Dahl injury news should come as no surprise

Anyone who’s followed the career trajectory of Texas Rangers‘ outfielder David Dahl for any length of time knows the injury bug bites him more frequently than most other players.

It’s not something we can explain, but rather is just a matter of fact, unfortunately.

This proved to be the case once again Wednesday with the news that the 27-year-old could potentially have cracked ribs after leaving Tuesday night’s contest against the Angels with rib soreness. He was placed on the IL.

Injuries have seemed to follow David Dahl to the Texas Rangers.

In his stead will be minor league outfielder Jason Martin, who is absolutely tearing up AAA at the moment and was signed to a minor-league deal by the Texas Rangers in spring training. One could argue his strong camp showing should’ve earned him a place on the Opening Day roster instead of Eli White and Leody Taveras, who both got the call and are now both in, well, the minor leagues.

Even with injury concerns aside, Dahl’s first season in Arlington has been underwhelming. His .582 OPS, for example, would be a career low for a season and well short of his all time mark of .795.

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Dahl is only getting on-base at a .282 clip, which is terrible, to be blunt. The average on-base percentage in MLB is around .313, a roughly 40 point differential between Dahl and the replacement-level player.

His four home runs? Nothing special. Dahl hasn’t looked anything like the player he was in Colorado even when healthy. And he was pretty good there when he was on the field!

Coors Field does provide its players a natural offensive boost due to the high altitude, so that is taken into account here, but it’s still disappointing to see Dahl struggling.

His rib injury just adds to a chronicle of injuries that have plagued him over the course of his career.

As a result, Dahl has never played 162 games in a single season. Texas Rangers fans shouldn’t have expected him to play 162 or even 150, but 130-140 games would’ve been great. He’s unlikely to reach that clip at this current pace.

His career high games played in a single season? 100 in his only All-Star season in 2019. It’s a shame too, because he’s extremely talented and a proven commodity with the bat when he’s firing on all cylinders.

Sadly, this latest injury news comes as no surprise when considering Dahl’s career arc.